Do you hide these veggies into your kid’s meals?
Guess what?
Hiding vegetables in food may not be a good strategy in your child’s path to health…
… even if it seems like a great delivery system for veggies to get into your picky eater’s belly.
But why?
Here are 2 reasons that discourage the stealthy veggie operation.
Why hiding vegetables doesn’t necessarily work on picky eaters
Why do you resort to adding cabbage into fruit shakes?
Because you’re worried that your picky eater isn’t getting nutrients she should from eating vegetables.
Tips such as modeling good behavior, the one-bite rule, and presenting a variety of vegetables just don’t seem to cut it.
You’ve even tried exaggerated facial expressions depicting how delectable okra seems to be…
…but they’re still not enough.
The whole healthy eating business can get extremely frustrating, which makes the stealth veggie operation an easy solution. I’ve even written about using this method as one of the steps in winning the vegetable wars.
But here’s why you should disclose mixing veggies into meals and baked goods:
1. Kids may still eat food they know contains vegetables
This is according to an interesting research published in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.
The study
68 kids in elementary and middle school were given 2 sets of snacks containing vegetables. Half of the treats declared their healthy content on the labeling, while the rest did not.
Kids were asked to compare the taste of labeled snacks (broccoli gingerbread spice cake, zucchini chocolate chip bread) and their non-labeled counterpart (gingerbread spice cake, chocolate chip bread).
They were also asked which one they preferred.
Surprising findings
- Kids reported no taste difference between the following labeled and non-labeled snacks: (broccoli) gingerbread spice cake and (zucchini) chocolate chip bread. However, when it came to cookies with chickpeas:
- Kids said the cookies from the non-labeled packaging tasted better.
What these tell us
- Labels that declare vegetable content may not affect children’s food preferences. But what about item #2?
- The study also found that the participants ate more zucchini and broccoli in the past year prior to the study, compared to chickpeas. This suggested that they were familiar with the taste of the first two vegetables which explains their receptiveness to them.
What this means is: Kids may still willingly eat food they know have pureed vegetables in them.
2. It won’t be good in the long run
Is your overall goal to teach kids to eat healthy?
If so, then look for long-term solutions to getting your child to consciously choose eating vegetables. (How to do this is a separate post in itself and won’t be discussed here.)
Some argue that if vegetables are hidden in food, it defeats the purpose of educating kids about healthy eating, since they aren’t even aware of the veggies they’re wolfing down.
Hiding vegetables may seem like a good short-term solution, but not a long-term one.
About Anne Mercado
Great Post Anne! I hide veggies in alot of foods, they dont even know sometimes what they are eating. My kiddies dont really like veggies, Not sure why because I love them, they do like salad so thats a plus!
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At least they like salad, Pamela. At least you can make so many interesting dressings to entice the kiddos.
Good post, Anne! I had not thought about how it would affect their thinking in the long run… (Guess I’m not alone.)
Anyway, thanks for sharing this!
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Oh Paula, I actually didn’t consider the effect of hiding vegetables so yeah, you’re not alone!
There is definitely a subversive element to hiding the vegetables and while you might be changing their health short term you are certainly not changing their behavior. I try to keep in mind that I’m raising an adult not a child so I want to shape their choices not mine.
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Agree with you, Shannon! Love how you view parenting
I’ve been luck my kids eat more veggies then I do so I’ve never had to hide them.
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Ohh you are lucky!
Great post, great topic! I find that the times I’ve hidden veggies in food, my kids won’t eat them. If I just prepare the veggies simply, then my kids will eat them with their meal if they like them or not. I’d rather they just accept that we’ll eat different veggies each meal and that they should try them. I don’t like hiding food. Works for me.
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Absolutely. Sometimes they will like a particular veggie, and other times they won’t. This month is supposed to be nutrition month so what better topic than veggies? Hope you come back to the blog to see other posts on the subject. Last week I wrote about why kids are picky-eaters, which cites research-based findings on why healthy food is sometimes rejected.
Thank you for sharing Anne. I am thankful that our son isn’t a picky eater. I hope this doesn’t change as he gets older.
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I hope it doesn’t too, Cynthia! Nice seeing you back here and hope you had an awesome weekend. Do you still do yoga?
Interesting point! I like the idea of full disclosure to help kids embrace eating veggies. I do sometimes use the (green!) water from steamed veggies to boil pasta. Once I used it in hot chocolate just to see if they noticed, but I told them about it afterward! Incidentally, they liked the hot chocolate just fine…
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Full disclosure is best if you’re trying to raise children to consciously choose healthy food. And you know, that veggie water mixed in hot choco does sound interesting. Will give it a try sometime!
Very informative! I can see both sides to the argument. I’m one who hides veggies in their smoothies, but I also place them in front of them at dinner. When all else fails, a handful of baby carrots and some ranch dressing to dip them in is always a welcome veggie to my girls. I definitely think the key to raising healthy children/adults is to provide a variety of healthy options to choose from. The more healthy choices available, the more likely they are to determine their preferences/taste buds and having the power of choice does make a big difference long term. Sometimes my daughters will turn their nose up if there’s only one vegetable to choose from, but if I add a second choice (broccoli or corn?) they feel empowered and happily gobble up their choice.
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Yup, it seems like the key is to give them healthy options…lots of it. And your “Abby Salad Sandwich” blog post is testament to how this method works
Well said! I admit, I put kale & avocado into my son’s “green” smoothie, but he does watch me do it. Plus, he’s only two
I get so annoyed when parents assume they have to serve veggies smothered in cheese, or drenched in ranch!
Amy
PS. So glad I found your blog! It’s awesome.
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Hi Amy! I get why parents smother veggies with cheese and dressing, which is why I wrote this post on why kids are picky eaters. The goal is to help parents understand why kids refuse to eat veggies so they can relax a bit.
Anyhoo, hope to see you more around here
Kids these days are super smart! They can’t be fooled that easy anymore!
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That’s true, too!
I was never one to hide veggies in food when my kids were little, and they loved them. I don’t know what I would have done if they didn’t. I’ve always been guilty of being extremely honest with my kids, so I don’t think I would have hidden them. Great post!
~Erin
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I tried to hide veggies a few times but my son ended up disliking the food. But that was long ago, during his toddler years.
Guilty as charged! My daughter finds out anyway (and won’t eat it) no matter how I cook it. The only vegetable that I don’t need to hide from her are raw carrot sticks and Malunggay soup. Imagine, she doesn’t even like squash and potatoes unlike her Kuya!
Thank you for posting!
Maybe kuya can influence her to eat more veggies
That’s always a great trick, though not one that works always. Perhaps you can try giving her other veggies?
Great post, and right up my alley. I agree that you should not “hide” food to get your child to eat it. When my Samantha was going through a stage where she was not eating her veggies, I just waited her out, putting them in front of her every day. This was from about 11 months to 12 months of age. A friend asked me about it, and I said I wasn’t worried. She was just busy trying new foods, as veggies were her first foods. She has come back to veggies, all I had to do was give her space. I had a friend that recommended packaged a veggie juice for toddlers that didn’t like their veggies, I simply said “I’m not worried”.
Now, there is a difference between hiding veggies in baked goods, and using veggies in baked goods. The diet most people like is disproportionately high in carbs (and sometimes protein). Baking with veggies will sometimes boost both the flavor and the nutritional value of the carb. Whenever I make potatoes these days, I include sweet potatoes. The reason for this is twofold. First, Samantha likes flavor, and finds white potatoes without the sweet potato flavor boost to be boring. She tends to only take a bit of them. Second, I love potatoes, and this makes them just a bit healthier for me.
Thanks for the great article.
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Thanks for sharing that, Claire. It’s great that you weren’t worried when Samantha wasn’t munching on her veggies. It’s quite normal for toddlers to do this. Also, I love what you do with your potatoes! We have a lot of sweet potatoes here in the Philippines, but have never tried mixing it in with regular ones.
I agree in not hiding food. I want my boys to trust me. It kind of, in my opinion, is teaching your child you can trick people into eating things. And forms a mistrust with them, if they DO find out.
I am honest with my picky eaters. haha You know that one doesn’t eat much anyways, and Jeremiah USED to LOVE veggies, he now doesn’t.
I also give him vitamins. 
I think I am just more happy that he EATS. My boys sure don’t eat much.
I am not to worried. He’s not an overly sugared, fast food junkie.
I do think in time they might like veggies. My mom never made a big deal about it, and both my brother and I when we got older loved them. It was never treated any different then serving spaghetti, it was just another food.
I think when we treat something as a “you must eat your veggies” kind of thing, kids sometimes don’t want to. If it’s just another food, they might try it and like it.
Great post, tweeted it.
I have an announcement..
Thanks for sharing that, Sarah. It’s best for parents not to panic when they have picky eaters. I know it can get frustrating but it’s normal. Thank you sooo much for tweeting it, dear friend!
I used to hide them with my eldest, but got tired of it. When she turned 4, we coaxed her to try first before saying ‘no’. Also, she needed to see the effects of eating veggies (scientific?). Her bowel movements aren’t regular and she’s constipated most of the time, gladly, she saw that eating veggies made her experience easier movement although she doesn’t poop every day.
Sorry for talking about pooping.
Anyway, watching bits of Captain Carlos helped her want to eat healthier stuff, too. And I try to mix the food she likes with veggies so she could be enticed. For example, she likes quail eggs, so I use them for chopsuey, then her dad would put 2-3 pieces of veggies with every egg she was given. She was good with this compromise, thankfully.
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Glad she did well with compromising, Cym!